My First NL Coaster

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Hello,
Well I got No Limits and I mucked around with it for awhile to see what I could do and here it is, My first NL Coaster.
Its called "Heat Wave". It launches a little bit like superman , stops and then speeds off, I hope you enjoy it and please comment.
Also Sometimes I have noticed it moves to sharply at some points, but I cant fix it, any idea. I clicked smooth 100 times !
Heat_Wave_by_Movie_World.zip

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Also Sometimes I have noticed it moves to sharply at some points, but I cant fix it, any idea. I clicked smooth 100 times tongue.gif !

You actually need to adjust nodes yourself to get the coaster smooth, and add more nodes if necessary.
Here are a few things to work on to get you started:
Make sure different sections of track dont pass too close to each other, or the train will hit:
One part that was way too sharp was the curve at the end. This was my idea for fixing it...by turning it into an inversion!
So going number by number:
1) What we started from.
2) I added an extra node at the bottom using the split segment tool (Segment>Split Up)
3)I moved the node outwards to create a wider, smoother curve. I used the control nodes on the other node, moving them outwards to make that bit of track smoother too.
4 & 5) On the node at the very top of this new inversion, I adjusted the banking angle to make the track upside down (180 degrees)
6) So now we have a dive loop. The track heads in, does a 180 degree twist, before plunging to the ground and out the bottom of the half loop.
7) This is what happens if I try to use the smooth tool on this bit of track, in this case it has actually made things worse! The smooth tool is great if you want to make a curve a more continuous radius, but with many parts of a coaster, this is not what you want. In this case, the half loop needs to be tight at the top, but wider at the bottom,.
8) I added a node halfway through the twist using the split segment tool. I then moved it to the right, fiddled with the banking, so now the twist into the half loop is smooth and flowing.
9) The brakes and station area is a bit messy, these sections of track should always be straight .
Use the make straight tool to do this (Edit>Make Straight)
10) Here is what I think would be a better solution. The station and block brake are right in front of each other in a straight line. The main brake is before it, and is on a slight downward angle. This means the brake run doesn't need friction wheels. Instead the train can just coast down using gravity.
A small piece of curved normal track links the main brake to the block brake and station.
You may notice the way I have arranged it is pretty much the way Superman is arranged.
I also had a go at the curved drop at the other end of the ride:
1) First I selected the whole ride, and moved it down....it was too close to the edge of the building area, so there wasn't enough space to make a smoothly curved drop.
2) First I used the control nodes to make the apex of the hill a bit smoother
3) I then deleted the node in the middle of the drop....
4) So now we have one big segment forming the whole drop....notice the top of the drop is tighter, but as you go around it loosens out, this is because the the train is slower at the top, hence the curve can be tighter.
5) I split the segment halfway, and made the banking 50 degrees, this looked about right.
6) Halfway between the middle node and bottom node, I made another split.
I then made the banking on this newly created node 35 degrees. The node on the bottom I made 20 degrees so the drop would flow smoothly into the upward bit of track after.
7) I made another split between the top node, and the halfway one. For this new node i made the banking 70 degrees, so riders would twist into the drop in an exciting, but smooth way.
8) The end result
9) What we started with.
Those are just a few things....naturally the rest of the ride can be improved, the hills for starters.
Another good thing to do is to open the coasters that came with the game, and see how they did things.
Hope this helped.
Edited February 6, 2009 by Gazza